Brad Diver organizes three local Movember benefits this month

Movember fundraisers bring awareness to mens health

A St. Johns County local, Brad Diver became St. Augustine’s self-appointed “Mo-bassador” after learning of the cause three years ago when visiting a friend whose father had been affected by testicular and prostate cancer in south Florida.

Burt Reynolds, Salvador Dali, Stalin and Super Mario walk into a bar. This could be the start of a very bad joke, or it could be a scenario happening in the local establishments of St. Augustine this month — at least in the style of moustaches.

Coined as “Movember,” men literally grow together to increase awareness of testicular and prostate cancer with the aid of a non-profit that has taken men’s upper lip hair by storm.

A St. Johns County local, Brad Diver became St. Augustine’s self-appointed “Mo-bassador” after learning of the cause three years ago when visiting a friend whose father had been affected by testicular and prostate cancer in south Florida.

“They asked me to grow a moustache out for awareness, and through doing so found out more about the organization and its cause,” Diver said.

“With that being such, I decided to bring it to an area where it seemed like it lacked — in St. Augustine.”Local businesses have jumped in to promote Movember awareness through events, donations and creating unique cocktails such as the Moustache Manhattan, which will be served at Raw Martini Room on Nov. 20, and the locally crafted Manly Mustache IPA, now offered at A1A Aleworks.

Other local events scheduled for the cause include “Whiskers, Whiskey and Wishbones” at Meehan’s Irish Pub on Nov. 21 and “Rock Your Stash with Johnny Cash” at Mojo’s BBQ on Nov. 30.

As a registered non-profit, Movember began in Australia to increase dialogue around men’s health issues and soon spread through furry-framed mouths worldwide.

“It’s about becoming a voice,” Diver said. “To see the lack of us knowing the statistics in that men are twice as likely to have prostate or testicular cancer than a woman is to have a breast cancer when it’s just not really promoted or known.”

According to Adam Garone, Movember’s CEO and co-founder, every moustache generates 2,413 conversations during the month.

“Our success is due to the 855,203 amazing Mo Bros and Mo Sistas who participated globally in 2011, raising $126.3 million world-wide, making Movember the largest non-government funder of prostate cancer research in the world,” Garone said.

Funds are raised through both sponsorships and donations set up on each participant’s Movember page and go to prostate and testicular cancer research through organizations like Livestrong and the Prostate Cancer Society. Local efforts, including the sale of Movember t-shirts and other grassroots events, have raised around $1,000 in St. Augustine so far, Diver said.

Diver is also working toward organizing a “Stash Dash” for 2013, which will include a 5K and half marathon run.